The Ultimate Guide To Facebook Ad Placements in 2021

Don’t underestimate the importance of Facebook advertising. With 2.79 billion active users roaming the social networking app each month, the potential to sell your product or service to the right crowd is huge. But it’s not just about setting up an ad and hoping for the best. The more strategic you are with your audience segmentation and messaging, the more leads will engage with your brand. And that starts with having a clear understanding of how Facebook ad placements work.

In this essential guide to Facebook ad placements, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about optimizing your ads for maximum impact.

What are Facebook ad placements?

Facebook ad placements simply mean a place where you run your ad. Depending on your campaign objective, you can choose to appear on Instagram, Messenger, Facebook, and Audience Network.

Ultimately, where you place your ad will determine how people interact with your campaign. Facebook recommends selecting the Facebook ads automatic placement option in Ads Manager for new businesses, since it uses your budget evenly, distributing your ad across multiple platforms for best results. However, several other options exist, which we’ll explore below. 

Important note: Apple is rolling out new iOS 14 features which might impact where your ad shows up. Learn more about these iOS 14 privacy features here.

How to set up placement on Facebook ads 

To set up placement on Facebook ads, follow these simple instructions:

1. Go to Ads Manager
2. Pick your objective (not all objectives are compatible with placements)
3. Go to Placements. Facebook Ads Automatic Placement will be pre-set up since it’s Facebook’s recommendation.
4. If you want to go for another placement, choose Manual placement. Note, this means you’re excluding certain placements. To do this, uncheck the boxes next to each placement. If you don’t see a box, your ad campaign doesn’t support the placement.
5. You can use the Devices dropdown menu to restrict your placements to Desktop or Mobile only.
6. To turn off Placements altogether, deselect the boxes by Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Audience Network.
7. If you go for the in-stream video placement option, your ad can show up in partner live streams. To opt-out, simply choose Manual Placements. In the Placements part, under Brand Safety, select Content Type Exclusions and tick the box Exclude all live streams.

Keep in mind that you have numerous placement options to pick from.

These include:

• Device: desktop, mobile, or both.
• Platform: Instagram, Facebook, Audience Network and/or Messenger
• Placements: Feeds, stories, in-stream videos, suggested videos, rewarded videos, home, search, marketplace, messages, articles, apps, and sites (if external), native, banner, and interstitial
• Operating systems: IOS, Android, phones, or all devices

Best placements for Facebook ads

When considering the best placements for Facebook ads, the social media giant is a staunch advocate for selecting Automatic Placements for your ads campaign since Facebook will optimize your campaign to garner the highest conversions. What’s more, Facebook will get you the most optimization events at the lowest cost overall, making the most out of your allocated budget. To top it off, your ad will be placed in key locations where your message will be heard. 

However, if you’re dealing with a different campaign objective, or have a non-conversion-based goal in mind, then consider other placements. Whatever you decide, as a marketer you should make a habit of using the conversions goal in your campaign strategy. 

Where to place your Facebook ads

Desktop News Feed

The Desktop News Feed placement should be your go-to option if you’re a Facebook newbie. Not only does it give you ample space to enlarge your image, but you have more room for copy in your description area. However, it’s still one of the priciest ad placements Facebook offers.

If you’re after fresh lead generation and placing your Facebook Page in the spotlight, then Desktop News Feed does the job.

Desktop Right Column

Desktop Right Column works well if you’re retargeting users who’ve shown interest in your ad already. It appears on the right-hand side of the desktop Facebook page, hooking the audience in. Ultimately, it’s a cost-effective way to guide users back to your campaign end goal, but be aware; your copy and image will considerably shrink and will be less visible. 

Mobile optimized

Mobile ads work particularly well if you’d like to highlight a certain product or service. Since people scan content quickly on mobile, be sure your ad is displaying prominently with an appealing image and short, concise copy. This will help drive higher brand engagement and ad recall. 

Marketing tips for Facebook ad placements

Succeed in your ad campaign with some leading industry best practice tips. 

1. Invest in ads that capture your business goals. This means having a laser-focused outcome in mind for each campaign.   
2. Play with Messenger ads. Marketing experts encourage brands to use Messenger ads in their content marketing strategy since they’re a fantastic way to create personal connections with customers and cut down on the amount of heavy lifting you need to do when responding to inquiries. 
3. Create different sets of dynamic ads, and automatically highlight appropriate products to the right crowd who’ve shown an interest in your brand. 
4. Test everything. The only way of knowing with certainty if a Facebook ad placement is for you is to test and optimize each campaign. 

Final word

How you place your ads ultimately impacts your campaign performance. But fret not; Facebook ad placements are easily customizable, enabling you to tweak each placement to your heart’s desire. And remember; whatever placement you opt for, rest assured Facebook will optimize your ad delivery accordingly, ensuring it’s displayed to target audience members who are most likely to take action.